Breach
Breach is the sixth and final episode of the third series of Line of Duty and the seventeenth overall episode which was first broadcast on BBC Two on the 28 April 2016. Summary DS Steve Arnott is arrested on suspicion of murder but continues to protest his innocence. Does DC Kate Fleming's undercover operation hold the key to Steve's guilt and the identity of the Caddy? Details This Episode begins with Patrick Fairbank in AC-12 for another interview, by Superintendent Ted Hastings. Fairbank is waiting with his Solicitor to be called in, he's looking uncomfortable and wondering how long this interview will take. In the Interview, PC Maneet Bindra has joined Hastings. Hastings says they have some new information to put to him. Maneet says that document 27 is a transcript of a professional tribunal which took place on 19 September 1998, in which Oliver Stephens-Lloyd recorded he's submitted a list of names of abusers at Sands View. At the word list, Fairbank puts his glasses away and says not this list, I don't know anything about this list. He wants to know where this new information is, when nothing is forthcoming he says he thinks they are done and moves to leave. Hasting spots DC Kate Fleming moving across the office, he asks Fairbank to remains seated and says that he believes that they are about to hear some new evidence. Kate comes in and shows them a video capture, and asks Fairbank to identify who it shows. Fairbanks grabs it and pulls it away and says that he refused to take part in any video identification. Kate says he did, which meant they were forced to use a video capture from one of his previous interviews. Hastings says that they were legally entitled to use this image because her client had been notified he was going to be questioned regarding an offence, Misconduct in a Public Office. Kate tells Fairbank that this image, alongside 8 other images of similar persons, in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, was shown to a witness, who was a resident of Sands View Boys' Home during the 1990s. Kate confirmed that this witness confirmed that the image showed one of the men who had sexually abused him. Fairbank doesn't react or say anything. Hastings says "These politicians and celebrities, they couldn’t have got away this time and time again without the collusion of police officers. I mean, I kept asking myself over and over again, how could they turn a blind eye? How could they allow these appalling things to happen to these children? Of course the answer’s plain as day. They didn’t turn a blind eye – they were in on it." Hastings is shaking with rage at the end. Hastings phone begins to vibrate. He sees the email from Denton titled "List", he opens it and sees the list and shows it to Kate. He announces to the room that he's just received a list of abusers, corroborating the names we've already heard from our witness. He reads out the top five, Ronan Murphy, Linus Murphy, Dale Roach, Tommy Hunter and Patrick Fairbank. Fairbank's solicitor is looking completely shocked. Hastings formally arrests him for Aggravated Indecent Assault in that this offence occurred before May the 1st 2004 with a child of children under the age of 13, Perverting the Course of Justice and Misconduct in Public Office. Fairbank, still blank-faced is handcuffed and takes a seat. Kate gives Hastings a sincere well done, and he returns it. Kate walks out with Fairbanks and tells the uniformed office that custody has been arranged at Polk Avenue. As Fairbank walks past Kate he turns to her and says "You think you’ve got me? You haven’t got a clue! I hope you like the outdoors -- because you are going to be directing traffic till the end of your sad little career." Kate doesn't change her face and stares him down in the lift determinedly. We Steve having woken up late, he opens his curtains and sits on his sofa across from an empty bottle of wine and a waiting Berocca. He opens up the laptop to the same churchyard search it was on the night before. He chugs his drink and then goes to get his pocket book. He realises that it's gone and Denton must have taken it. He calls her and gets her voicemail. He leaves his Flat, five Kingsgate Apartments, and the space where his car was is now empty. He looks furious and runs off down the street. He calls in to report the theft of his service vehicle and tries to hail a taxi. He finally flags down a Derby Cabs. Steve goes straight to Denton's approved accommodation, the B&B. He flashes his badge at the front desk and gets the keys for Denton's room. He legs it upstairs and doesn't find her. using his jacket over his hand, he starts rummaging around her room but finds nothing. He shuts the door to her room, waiting inside for her to return. At the industrial estate where Denton was murder, the police have set up a cordon. Hastings signs in and gets let through. He walks up to the car and see's Denton dead in the passenger seat. He mutters "Mother of God" quietly to himself. He walks to the front of the car and spots Steve's number plate and looks worried. Still inside Denton's flat, Steve calls her again and gets her voicemail. Very aggressively he tells her that he knows she nicked his pocket book, and he doesn't know where she is. Steve pauses as he hears a clicks and looks around at the door. He puts the phone down and walks toward the door, just as the door is smashed open and four AFOs run in shouting armed police. Steve immediately puts his hands up and shouts, i'm AC-12. The lead AFO, Lambert, tells him to get on his knees and to stop talking. He tells him to drop his phone and then the Lead AFO cuffs him and tells everyone else to get out. Downstairs we see a pair of polished black shoes heading determinedly up towards Steve, but we don't know who is at above them. The lead AFO shouts, all clear sit, and the Shoe keep walking up the stairs. Dot then enters Denton's bedroom and arrests Steve for the murder of Denton. Steve is gobsmacked and asks what's going on. Dot tells him that he knows and he needs to keep his mouth shut until he gets a lawyer. Dot says he's trying to do him a favour. Steve is lead out and still can't believe what he's just heard. At South Ferry Station Steve is put into custody. Dot tells them to take his clothes for forensics before he goes in his cell. The custody officer also confirms that she is going to get authorisation to have him held there incommunicado, delaying his right to have anyone told he's there, or to make any calls. The door shuts and Dot smiles to himself, he might get out of this yet. Steve Arnott's First Interview with AC-12 Hastings, Dot and Kate line up to Interview Steve with his solicitor present. Hastings asks for his whereabouts between 08:00 and 12:00 on 17th July this year. Steve quietly says he was at home, Kate gets him to confirm his address. Hastings asks who he was with, he says that between those hours, he was alone. Kate asks where his girlfriend was, DS Sam Railston. Steve says that she left early for work around 06:30. Steve says he was alone in the flat, but he made phone calls, they'll prove where he was. Kate pulls up the phone records for 07591 152425, there three calls shown. Hastings asks for him to explain what was going on with these calls. He says that he realised Denton had stolen his pocket book, he called her from his flat but it went straight to her voicemail, he went to her Approved Premises but she wasn't there so he tried calling again. Hastings asks about the call to the AC-12 switchboard, Steve says he was reporting the theft of his service vehicle. Hastings wants to know when he last saw Denton alive, he says it was the night before at his flat. He says that Denton had a theory that Danny had left a list of abuses in the graveyard. They were searching online burial records for a name that might have been a memorable association for Danny. He confirms that she left his flat and he went to the graveyard alone. He says that it must have been while she was in his flat that she took his pocket book. Kate confirms that herself and Dot were carrying out direct surveillance on him. Dot says that they saw the two of them split up and after Steve left Denton looked like the cat who got the cream. Dot says that she sent Steve on a wild goose chase, whilst she cracked the case. Kate tells him that Danny had hidden the list online. Steve looks shocked and asks if Denton found the list. Hasting says she did, you have to hand it to her, she got the job done. Dot says that she made a mug of Steve. Dot also says that these phone calls are only from noon onwards, none of them corroborated him being in his flat before that time. Dot says that the proprietor of the Internet Cafe thinks Denton left around 11, 11:30. Dot says they don't know who she met, or where she went until her body was discovered at 12:30. Hastings asks if he was at home all this time, Steve says he was. Dot wants to know what he was doing. Steve looks reluctant to say. Hastings pushes him and Steve says he was asleep. Dot laughs at him and says sleeping, seriously. Steve says he was up most of the night. Hastings asks if he didn't think of calling Denton straight away. Steve says no. Hastings says that Denton had sent him on a fool's errand and stolen his pocket book. Dot says he'd have been after her like a shot, but Steve stayed on his sofa watching homes under the hammer. Steve stares daggers at Dot. He then looks more reasonably at Hastings, and tells him that he got home late, he had a row with his girlfriend. He had some wine and he fell asleep on the sofa, and he overslept. As soon as he realised his pocket book was gone he took action. Dot asks him to confirm if he was pissed off with her though. Steve's solicitor says that he's simply stating the facts. Dot ask if that means he wasn't pissed off with her. Steve pauses and Kate tells everyone that she followed Steve to the graveyard of Saint Barnabas Church and he stated that ''“If there’s no list here, then Lindsay’s going to get what’s coming!” ''Hastings asks him to clarify what he meant. Steve says he was angry, with Kate and with Denton. He says he didn't mean anything. Hastings says that he admits being angry with Denton. Dot cuts in and says those words go way beyond angry. Steve says he didn't kill Denton. Kate brings up that at her trial Denton had said there was a sexual relationship between them. Steve says he doesn't need a transcript, she was lying. Kate says that they recovered the file from Denton's phone, and she plays it. We can hear heavy breathing and Steve clearing asking "If that's ok" Denton replies "yeah". At this point kate is looking away, not being able to look Steve in the eye. Dot is grinning to himself, and Hastings has his eyes closed, looking very uncomfortable. The tape continues as there is some more heavy breathing and Steve asks again if she's ok and Denton replies yeah. The breathing gets a bit heavier and abruptly stops. Hasting asks if he recognises the voice on the file, he says it was him and Denton and that it was made in her bedroom. Hastings asks if he was aware the recording was being made, Steve says he was not. His solicitor points out that as he didn't give his permission, the recording is illegal. Dot says, still, it's not a nice thing to do to someone. Just another thing she did to frustrated him. Hastings looks very disappointed and says that time and time again Steve denied any impropriety with Denton. Steve says that what they don't know, is that they are both almost fully clothed and the files been abridged if they'd been able to keep listening that they'd know they both stopped through mutual consent. Hastings asks him what they were stopping. Steve looks ashamed, but finally admits that there was some kissing, some touching. Denton became upset and he comforted her. He says again that he gives him his word, they did not have sex. Hastings saying with a disapproving tone "Your word" as if that holds no meaning in this context anymore. Dot says it doesn't matter whatever his version of that audio file is, it sounds like the pair of them went way beyond the professional, and then she used it to discredit his case against her. Dot says he's doesn't know too many blokes who wouldn't be angry about that. Dot continues that her accusations lead to him being suspended and potentially the ruination of his career. Steve is starting to look very distressed. Dot puts up a picture of Denton's murder crime scene, taken 12:45 July 17th. Dot pulls up the next image and Steve looks on with shock and he realises that it's his car, he looks on in disbelief. Hastings asks if he agrees that it's his car. Steve reminds them, he reports his car stolen. Hastings says he should have signed the car back in, the moment he was suspended. Hastings says the car was in Steve's possession when the murder happened. Steve repeats that someone stole the vehicle. Hastings asks when he reported this. Kate says it was at 11:59 in a call to the AC-12 switchboard. Dot says that Denton was last seen alive up to an hour earlier, which is plenty of time for him to get home and report his car stolen. Steve says he called as soon as he realised the car was stolen, that the car must have been stolen earlier. Dot shows the post mortem, showing that the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head. He continues to say that the bullet found lodged in the side trim of the car has been identified as a 9 by 19 millimetre parabellum round. Dot shows an image of a Glock 17 service issue firearm, serial number NM8494748. He says it was found a short distance from the vehicle containing the body of Denton. Kate shows the firearms logs from South Ferry Armoury showing the issuing of the Glock 17 and that it was never signed back in. Steve looks at this in disbelief, he signed the pistol back in. Steve says that he returned his firearm a few days before Denton was murdered. Hastings says not according to these records. Steve now getting angry says he did return and they need to ask the people at the armoury. Hastings says it's there in black and white, son. Dot asks Steve if he always follows the regs when it comes to firearms. Steve is silent. Dot continues to says that he saw Steve bearing a firearm in this building that, in his view, not meeting operational requirements and he gave Steve a verbal warning he was in breach of the Firearms Act. Steve laughs at the ridiculousness of it all. Steve wants to know what forensics they have linking him to the crime scene. Dot says it's his car and his gun, he thinks that's plenty. Steve asks if his prints were on the gun. Kate says that the gun appeared to have been wiped. So Steve says there are no prints. Steve continues to say that Denton appears to have been shot at close range. The vehicle interior shows a substantial blood-spatter patter. Did they find blood particles on him? Kate confirms that at the time of Steve's arrest his clothing was seized and no traces of blood or gunshot residue was detected. Dot says that anyone with half a brain covered in blood and gunshot residue would know where to dispose of his clothing. Steve asks where is it. Dot says he needs to tell them. Steve asks them why he would have shot Denton in his own car, he would know that the forensics would be completely incriminating. Dot says correct they are. Steve yells, so he wouldn't have done it. Hastings says that he was at the end of his tether, that Denton had betrayed him, manipulated him, deceived him and finally discredited him. Steve asks if that means he used his service issued firearm that he then left at the scene, and his service issued vehicle. Steve says that's just stupid. Dot says he panicked, he left the bullet and the casing, and he didn't do a good job of disposing of the gun and cobbled together a story that his car was stolen. Dot says the only thing he did a good job of was disposing of the clothes. Kate pulls up a picture of Steve's pocket book, and Dot says that he went to get it back, things got out of hand and in his panic, he didn't even remember to take it. Steve says that he didn't have that gun. If he didn't return it, why didn't anyone try to recover it. Silence from everyone. His solicitor says that Steve has asked a very important question. Hastings says that he admits there was a failure of the harvesters at South Ferry Armoury, and he's written to the SFC and disciplinary action will follow. Steve has had enough, he yells that no one noticed because he did return the firearm. Steve says that someone must have access to the books forms, and replaced the real one showing he returned with, with a forgery. Hastings says but by that logic someone else would have had to sign out the gun, where is the record of that. Steve says it's the same thing, they took that log too so that no one could track who had the gun. Hastings asks if what Steve is suggesting is that some impostor acquired the firearm and then tampered with the paperwork to cover his tracks. Steve says yes, obviously the same person who stole his car that morning. Dot says his defence is that it was just done by some random impostor. Steve says no, not random, that it's extremely difficult to steal a service-issue firearm, but not difficult to fake the paperwork. That takes inside knowledge, Steve believes the impostor is a police officer. Dot asks if it's a piece of cake to steal a service-issue vehicle, fitted with deadlocks and immobiliser? Hasting says it's all sounding very far-fetched. Steve says that there is a parallel on this case. That ever since they started investigating Danny Waldron his first shooting and then his murder, there have been wholes that the evidence hasn't completely filled, one of which is the murder of Rod Kennedy. Dot tries to stop this, and tells Hastings it's a massive tangent and Steve's just trying to play for time. Steve tells them that Dot was too quick to close the investigation into Rod's murder, just like he was with he inquiry into the Caddy. He's doing the same thing here. He's cutting corners, not challenging evidence robustly, and that Steve's suffering as a result. Dot says that Steve is only saying this for one reason to try and discredit the case. To get AC-12 taken off the investigation against him. Hastings wants to get back on topic, and asks to stick to the murder of Denton. Dot goes back to Steve's car, and shows photos of the boot. There is a bag in there that Steve's identifies as his gym bag. The next photo shows the content of the bag, clothing and trainers. The next image shows a red burner phone being pulled from the bag. Steve yells, that that was not in his bag, he yells "What... What is going on here?" Hasting tells him to calm down and asks if it's his phone. Steve says it is not, someone must have put it in there. Dot brings up a transcript of Denton's retrial regarding the £50k in cash found at her home. Steve says that he did not plant that money. Dot shows another picture of the bag with £5 in a pocket. Dot asks if that's his cash. Steve says he doesn't recall having any money in that bag. Dot confirms they ran forensics on the money and confirms that it has a pollen match tot he banknotes found at Denton's home. Steve is getting increasingly agitated and says that there is no way that's his money. Dot says that a second ago he couldn't remember. Steve says that there is no way he'd have money from the same source as Denton's bribe. Dot says that Denton knew she'd planted evidence, and was his most vocal accuser, maybe she was onto this evidence too. Steve says she wasn't onto anything, she couldn't have known about this. Dot asks if he was hiding it from her. Steve is getting flustered and says he didn't mean it like that. Dot says that this money would be very had to come by, but with the phone shows a clear pattern of corrupt conduct. Steve screams "I am not bent" at Dot, he looks like he's about to breakdown. Hastings sees the effect it's having on him and offers him to have some time alone with his solicitor. Steve thinks about it but says no. Hastings asks them all to calm down, and not let their emotions get the better of them. Hasting asks if Steve has comments to make about the murder of Danny Waldron. Steve says he was murdered by Hari Bains, who has confessed and intends to plead guilty. Dot says that Hari owed gambling debts to the wrong people and they believe he was contracted to kill Waldron. Kate says that Bains received a call the night 31st May from a phone of the type in Steve's car, the night before he shot Danny. Dot says that according to Bains the caller had a London / Southeast accent. Steve asks so? Dot asks if it was him. Steve sarcastically replies that as London and the southeast have such small populations that it must have been him. Steve further says that he's spoken to Hari loads of time, he would have recognised his voice. Hastings asks if Steve is familiar with the putative corrupt police officer codenamed the Caddy. Steve looks highly suspicious and concerned at this question. He says quietly that he is. Dot brings up his profile and reads it through. Steve says it's insane, that their proof is a profile. Dot says that they have more, that only the Caddy would have had access to the same source of bribe money as was found at Denton's house, that they found in his service vehicle. Hastings asks if Steve would like some more time. Steve says no, he says that Dot originally volunteered to investigate the Caddy and closed the case prematurely based on flimsy evidence provided by an old colleague of his. Hastings says that they are not there to discuss Dot. Dot says that he's just trying to discredit the investigation. Steve says he intends to be heard, on the record. Hastings sighs and says that his right. Steve asks Dot if he carried out the original inquiry into the Caddy. Dot says he did. Steve asks him if he wrongly identified DC Cole. Dot says yes. Steve asks if this was done purely on this testimony of his former colleague, DC Nigel Morton. Hastings interrupts and says that Morton has since revised his statement and Dot and Kate are reopening that inquiry. Steve pauses, thinking. Steve says that Dot failed to order a second post mortem on the body of Rody Kennedy. Dot says his email bounced back, as Steve already knows. Kate makes a note. Steve says that Dot led the search of Danny's after his murder. Dot says he did. Steve asks if as part of this he found an envelope addressed to Steve. Dot says he did. Steve says that the forensics, that he failed to carry out on the envelope detected traces of ink and blood suggesting it contained a note written by Danny, presumably intended for Steve. Dot says that no note as ever found, and Danny had saved the list online. Steve says that was only discovered weeks later because Dot failed to pursue a lead. Dot says he did not. Steve yells the note had been in the envelope. Dot shouts back, that's not what was in the envelope. Steve pauses shocked at what he's just heard, as is Hastings and Kate. Dot goes on to reveal that there was something found in the envelope and it was entered into evidence separately for internal security. The sequestered Evidence was authorised by Gill Biggeloe, Leading Legal Counsel for AC-12. Dot pulls out a bag from the box and shows Steve a golf tee. Steve looks devastated. Dot says Steve Arnott, gold tee, he thinks Danny was trying to tell them something. Steve just sits there, looking shell shocked. Hasting tells him about his custody arrangements and discontinues the interview. Part II of the Episode Description continues here - Breach Part II Category:Episode Category:Series Three